Oakland A's roll over Minnesota Twins, inch closer to A.L. West title

OAKLAND -- The A's could repeat as American League West champions as early as Saturday night. The only problematic thing is how they might stage the party.

Coupled with a 2-1 Texas loss to Kansas City, Oakland reduced its magic number to clinch the division to two with an 11-0 romp over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night before a sellout Coliseum fireworks crowd of 36,067.

But here's the deal. If the A's beat the Twins on Saturday afternoon, they will have to sit and wait several hours to see what happens with the Rangers, who play a night game in Kansas City. It could make for an interesting day, and perhaps a delayed champagne celebration.

"I haven't given it any thought," manager Bob Melvin said. "I know we play at 12:30 or 1, and we'll consider what the options are after that."

"Let's not put the carriage before the horse," shortstop Jed Lowrie said. "Let's just win (Saturday) and take it from there."

The scenario that could eventuate Saturday has never happened before with the A's in Oakland, according to longtime clubhouse manager Steve Vucinich. He posted a sign in his office window that said "We Don't Know Yet" as far as how a delayed party might be handled.

The closest the A's have come to this situation was in 1992, when they clinched on an off-day after the team chasing them lost, and everyone gathered at a sports bar in Jack London Square to celebrate.

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It's unlikely the A's are terribly concerned how it unfolds. What's important is their second straight A.L. West title is imminent. As an added bonus, they control whether they'll finish the job on their final regular-season homestand, which wraps up Sunday.

"It's going to be nice," third baseman Josh Donaldson said. "The earlier we can do it, the better. What we're going to do is just go out and try to win every game like we have to."

Friday night's waxing of the Twins felt like a celebration party, particularly with the large crowd on hand. Bartolo Colon won his 17th game with six shutout innings. Yoenis Cespedes and Donaldson bashed long home runs. And for comic relief, the hapless Twins made four errors, not counting right fielder Owaldo Arcia losing a ball in the lights and misplaying it into a Derek Norris double.

The highlight was without much question, Colon's latest performance. Looking as if he might be out of gas for the year during a winless August, the veteran right-hander was as sharp as he has been all season in becoming the 11th A.L. pitcher in history to win as many as 17 games after turning 40.

Oakland Athletics' Chris Young (25) grabs a hit off the bat of Minnesota Twins Eduardo Escobar (5) in the first inning of their MLB game at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 20, 2013. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
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"Now we're seeing the movement again, we're seeing the velocity coming back," Melvin said. "We were able to give him a little bit of a break with the D.L., and I think these last two times he's had five days rest in between starts. So we're seeing a guy really hitting his stride again after a down period for him."

Colon (17-6) allowed five hits, walked just one and struck out eight, and while regularly clocking 94 mph on the radar gun, threw 72 of 94 pitches for strikes. He has now won his past three starts and has allowed just two earned runs in 25 September innings. His ERA is down to 2.64, second best in the league.

"I was tired a bit for a while, but I have recovered good," Colon said through interpreter Ariel Prieto. "I feel really strong now."

The A's gave Colon all the support he needed with a three-run second inning that started with Cespedes' 25th homer of the year, a bomb deep into the left field bleachers.

Arcia subsequently lost Norris' ball in the lights on a fly to right, and after Josh Reddick brought Norris home with a two-out infield single, Daric Barton hit a single into the right field corner that Arcia misplayed and allowed Reddick to come all the way around from first to score.

The A's made it 4-0 in the fourth on an Alberto Callaspo RBI single, then batted around and scored five runs in the fifth.

Donaldson capped the Oakland night with his 24th homer, a two-run shot to center in the sixth.

Struggling reliever Ryan Cook worked before the game under the watchful eyes of Melvin and pitching coach Curt Young. "I believe it's only going to take one good outing, and he'll be off to the races again," Melvin said.